One of my favourite birds…F4 Phantom, F14 and the F15… Beautiful planes …
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John F-4 in IAF scheme is heck of a cool looking jet. I was debating where to start it or this and Eagle one as that’s what I had at home.
@gtdeath13 Niko, I am in the opposite boat with the Rhino. I have almost everything to build a IAF F-4E but nothing to do Hellenic F-4E. As I mentioned in my post…big supporter of Israel so a huge fan of IAF/IDF and have several different IAF conversations/decals. However, new into armor do not much in IDF stuff.
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Hi everyone, lots of nice models being build here, and after having build quite a bit of iIDF vehicles myself, I still have some boxes left, and I will be joining with this one:
And it will most likely get filled with figures at the end…
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Now say it! 
Awesome work on the F-15 Johnny!
Well, as I pulled the Tiran out of the stash and opened up the box, I quickly realized I had already started it and it is way beyond 25%. The peril of too many unfinished kits ;). So, I will enter with the Meng Achzarit, Late. Still a couple weeks away from starting in earnest.
Happy Modeling,
Zon
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The idea,
I build the Merkava IV
Gonna start this one
Got the Namer in my stash
1 Year, got to be possible
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OK, time for one of my typically long-winded posts with a quesiton at the end.
I’ve taken the plunge and started the M60A1:
Building aircraft, one nearly always starts with the cockpit. I understand with armor, it’s the suspension. So it is here. And here is where I ran into my first issues, apparently incorrect instructions.
AFV Club shows parts D11 installing into the locater hole on the right. Fitting the parts, that’s clearly wrong, it goes into the hole on the left. That part was easy (just wouldn’t fit the other way). My bigger issue was parts C92 and C91 (bump stops?). The instructions show C92 going on left side of the hull and C91 on the right, but the comparing the drawings to the actual parts, that’s backwards. Looking at some online pics and trying to fit the actual parts in the locater slots, I think the drawing was right and the numbers wrong, so this is what I did:
If I blew it, please let me know. But that looks right. Also, and as an aside, whoever designed the suspension for those idler wheels needs some help. Yipes.
Finally, the question. I was planning to use the kit decals, but I cannot identify the brigade this badge belongs to:
None of my resources on the '73 war identify which brigades had M60A1s and I can’t find that badge anywhere. Can anyone help me out with this? Also, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that since the kit has two white bands on the barrel, the number inside the badge should be a two as well, signifying the 2nd battalion of whatever brigade it is.
I have some generic IDF markings in the stash, so if I need to modify things, I probably can. But I would like to know what unit I’m dealing with.
Thanks all, some great work and ideas going here! And Chag Sukkot Sameach!
Michael 
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For what it’s worth: from my readings (several years ago) of the Yom Kippur War the M-60s were mainly in the Sinai under Adan & Sharon’s commands. Centurions were scattered north and south, but mainly in the Golan. Maybe this helps to narrow the quest? Happy Sukkot to you too.
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Go for it Jan 
Thanks, Nico! But can you tell me what brigade that is and am I wrong in thinking that the number of bands on the barrel should match the number in the badge?
And thanks for the suspension pic. Glad to see I guessed right on that one.
Michael
Some great kits and work being done… Looks like it’s going to be a cracking group build …
Finished the undercarriage and pretty much everything kit wise is fitted now apart from small bits easily broken and the canopies… Will start the masking tomorrow and will begin with the underside colour
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Battalion Markings
Determining which tank belonged to which battalion in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) was indicated by the number of stripes present on the tank’s gun barrel. One stripe meant the tank belonged to the first battalion; two stripes the second battalion and so on.
Company Markings
Which company the tank belonged to was indicated by the direction a chevron (the V-shaped symbol on the decal sheet) was pointing. The chevron is pointing down indicates the tank belonged to the the first company; pointing forward the second company and pointing up indicates the third company.
Platoon Markings
Platoon markings consist of the combination of numbers i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4 and the first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet aleph (א), bet (ב) gimel (ג) and dalet (ד). The number indicates the platoon; while the Hebrew letter indicates each individual tank within that platoon.
When I was researching the accuracy of the AFV club decals I remember finding a photo of the specific vehicle which I am trying to locate but from what I can recall the 2 stripes with the 3 on the top glacis are correct. Give me some time please…
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Of course, thank you!
Michael
I don’t know, but I can take a (semi) educated guess: given the insignia on the tank towing the bridge in Nikos’ post is the same as yours, then that task has been assigned to the 257th and 264th Battalions, 421st Brigade, 144th ‘Sharon’ Division, commanded by General Ariel Sharon (that time it was common to name divisions after their actual commander).
You’re right, but AFAIK that wasn’t always like that. During YKW, the the bands on the barrel might’ve marked the number of the platoon within a given company, rather than the number of the battalion within a given brigade like today. If this is indeed true (I’m not entirely sure), then the tank you want to build depicts a vehicle of the 2nd company (two barrel-rings), 3rd Battalion (the number in the insignia), 421th Brigade (the shape of the insginia). That could explain why the number of barrel-rings and the number in the insignia don’t match. I vaguely remeber reading this somewhere, but I also need some time to look it up as it might be something else.
Chag Sukkot Sameach!
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Found a postwar photo showing the brigade insignia and vehicles with different barrel stripes.
I agree with Israel that the vehicle markings belong to a 421th brigade in the Sinai (almost all M60s were in the Sinai during YKW)
If the battalion has a fourth (tank) company, the chevron points backwards. Also, chevrons pointing in the same direction don’t necessary mean that they mark the same number (i.e. always 1-2-3): I for example served in the Vav (‘Vulcan’) company of the 77th Battalion. ‘Vav’ is the sixth letter of the Alephbet marking the sixth company not within the battalion but the brigade (the 7th ) and our chevron pointed downwards, making, well, a ‘V’ (hence the name ‘Vulcan’). Company ‘Vav’ of the 188th Brigade for example (the sixth within their brigade) was called (probably still is) called ‘Venus’.
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Oh man. The judge is going to ping this guy for not removing the mould seam on the tyre
Reference pics like these ones are brilliant. Thanks once again for posting these and your other contributions Nikos.
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Whenever we discuss markings I get more confused each time. Can the IDF please remove all markings (they do that in photos, wouldnt it be better if they did the same in real life) and just have number plates and a chevron?
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